Democrats Pushing Kaine Replacements

Democrats in Virginia are quietly hopeful former Gov.Tim Kaine will run for Senate, but across the Potomac, the popular parlor game is guessing who will replace Kaine as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Serious candidates interested in the job are not actively campaigning. They need only one vote, President Obama's, to become chairman. But after midterm elections that wiped out many well-known Democrats, Obama has a big field from which to choose.

One name moving up the list: Long-time Democratic activist Donna Brazile, who has become the early favorite among a set of senior party leaders in Washington. Brazile, who ran former Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 after a long career in party politics and on Capitol Hill, would be the first African American woman to lead the DNC.

But she has stiff competition from bold-faced Democratic names. Democratic insiders are mentioning former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and a host of others. Click through to see the list of possible contenders, based on our conversations with prominent Democrats around Washington: